Snowmobile anti-skid device

ABSTRACT

An anti-skid device for a snowmobile ski attached to the wear bar of each of the steering skis of the snowmobile to prevent the ski and snowmobile from sliding sideways in snow or on icy surfaces by preventing a lateral movement of the steering ski when the snowmobile is making a turn.

United States Patent 1 Westberg 51 Feb. 27, 1973 SNOWMOBILE ANTI-SKIDDEVICE [76] Inventor: Russell C. Westberg, 10653 Johnson Road,Minneapolis, Minn.

[22] Filed: Sept. 17, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 181,417

[52] U.S. Cl ..280/28 [51] Int. Cl. "B62b 17/00 [58] Field of Search..280/28, 21 R; 180/5 R, 6

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,643,978 2/1972 Westberg..280/28 l/l972 Shorrock ..280/28 l2/l970 Fox ..280/28 PrimaryExamirzer-Benjamin Hersh Assistant Examiner-Robert R. SongAttorney-Harold D. Jastram [5 7 ABSTRACT An anti-skid device for asnowmobile ski attached to the wear bar of each of the steering skis ofthe snowmobile to prevent the ski and snowmobile from sliding sidewaysin snow or on icy surfaces by preventing a lateral movement of thesteering ski when the snowmobile is making a turn.

4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures SNOWMOBILE ANTI-SKID DEVICE The presentinvention relates to an apparatus for stabilizing a ski and moreparticularly to an anti-skid device attached to the wear bar of a ski toprevent it from sliding sideways.

Snowmobiles use skis as a steering mechanism for the machine. These skisfunction with reasonable satisfaction except when the snowmobile isturned at relatively high speeds. When this turning occurs, the skistend to slide sideways and consequently, the driver, however skillful,may lose or does indeed lose control of his machine at these times. Thisloss of control is particularly noticeable when the machine is driven onicy surfaces such as in races, on the frozen surfaces of lakes, or thelike.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a newand improved anti-skid device for stabilizing a snowmobile ski.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an anti-skiddevice for a snowmobile ski to prevent the ski from slipping sidewayswhile the ski is used to make a hard turn on a relatively compacted icysurface.

The invention can be more clearly understood by reference to thespecification and the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a snowmobile ski showing an anti-skid deviceaccording to the present invention attached to the wear bar runningalong the lower surface of the ski,

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line z2 of FIG. 1 showingthe method of mounting an anti-skid device to a wear bar of a ski andillustrating a U-shaped anti-skid device,

FIG. 3 is an isometric view illustrating an anti-skid device accordingto the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of an alternate embodiment of theinvention illustrating an anti-skid device having a generallyrectangular cross section, and

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of an alternate embodiment of theanti-skid device according to the present invention illustrating adevice having a generally V-shaped cross section.

Refer first to FIG. 1 of the drawings which shows a snowmobile ski 11having a wear bar 12 which runs along the lower surface 13 of the ski 11and which makes a turn 14 over the front end 16 of the ski 1 1. The ski11 is attached to snowmobile 17 through the use of brackets 18, a springdevice 19, and a pivot bracket 21.

Wear bar 12 is a replaceable bar which is designed to protect the ski 11from highly abrasive surfaces such as gravel, rocks, and the like. Thiswear bar 12 is connected to the ski 11 (see FIGS. 1 and 2) by a bolt 22which extends through an aperture 23 in ski 11 and is secured in placeby burr 24.

An anti-skid device 26 according to the present invention is attachedover wear bar 12 (saddle fashion) so that the device 26 encloses thewear bar 12, except for the lower surface 27 of the wear bar 12 whichmakes contact with the snow or ice (see FIGS. 1 and 3). In a preferredembodiment of the invention, the anti-skid device 26 has a U-shapedconfiguration (see FIGS. 2 and 3). Reference to FIG. 2 of the drawingswill reveal that the U-shaped skid device 26 has a first side 28 and asecond side 29. These sides are interconnected by a web 31. Web 31 ismade sufficiently large so that the sides 28 and 29 enclose the wear bar12 on substantially three sides of the bar but leaving the lower surface27 free to contact the terrain surface. An aperture 32 provides a meansfor bolting the wear bar 12 securely between the wear bar 12 and thelower surface 13 of the ski 11. The aperture 32 can be locatedintermediate the ends 33 and 34 of the device 26. FIG. 3 of the drawingsillustrates a device which has three apertures 32 so that the operatorof the vehicle may choose a different location for the device on thewear bar 12. This permits the operator to balance his skis and place thedevice 26 at the position along the length of the ski 11 which provideshim with the most desirable traction for the particular operation of hisvehicle in which he is interested. Location of device 26 at differentpoints along the length of ski 11 will be influenced by the balancepoint of the ski and other operating characteristics of the particularmachine.

Whereasthe top edges 36 and 37 of sides 28 and 29 are interconnected byweb 31, the lower edges 38 and 39 of the anti-skid device extend, in thecase of the U- shaped device, below the lower surface 27 of the wear bar12. These lower edges 38 and 39 engage the ice, and snow and afford thevehicle proper anti-skid action by cutting into the snow and ice runningsurface. Lower edges 38 and 39 can terminate at horizontal plane 41,illustrated in FIG. 2 of the drawings by the dotted line; however, ithas. been found that the preferred method of constructing the device 26is to extend the sides 29 sufficiently to terminate edges 38 and 39below plane 41, thus affording greater anti-skid action.

Reference. to FIG. 3 of the drawings will indicate that each. end of theedges 38 and 39are beveled'to permit more gradual and effectiveengagement of the device 26 with the running surface.

Reference to FIG. 4 of the drawings will reveal that the anti-skiddevice 26 need not utilize a U-shaped cross-sectional configuration.FIG. 4 illustrates an antiskid device 26 utilizing a rectangularcross-sectional shape in which sides 42 and 43 are substantiallyparallel to each other as with the U-shaped device 26 illustrated inFIG. 2. The upper edges 46 and 47 of sides 42 and 43 respectively areconnected in this case by a web 44 which is perpendicular to the sides42 and 43. Web 44 is perpendicular in this particular configuration insubstantially the same manner that web 31 is perpendicular to the sides28 and 29 in the U-shaped configuration illustrated in FIG. 2 of thedrawings. Other than the fact that the device in FIG. 4 has arectangular cross section, it operates in substantially the same fashionas the U-shaped device. It fits over the wear bar 12, saddle fashion, aspreviously described and the lower edges 48 and 49 engage the terrainrunning surface as previously described. Again, these edges 48 and 49can terminate at plane 41 which coincides with the lower surface 27 ofwear bar 12 or they can extend below the surface 27 for greatertraction.

Refer next to FIG. 5 of the drawings which illustrates a furtherembodiment of the invention utilizing a V- shaped cross-sectionalanti-skid device 26. The V- shaped device 26 has sides 51 and 52 whichare joined at edge 53 to form a V cross-sectional shape. The sides 51and 52 enclose the wear bar 12. Edges 54 and 56 of sides 5.1 and 52respectively terminate at the same level as the bottom surface 27 of thewear bar 12. The peculiarities of the V-shaped cross-sectional areapermit the device 26 having a V-shape to have sides 51 and 52 whichterminate as illustrated in FIG. 5 and still provide anti-skidcharacteristics which are somewhat better than a device 26 whichutilizes substantially parallel sides as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 4.In all other respects, the V-shaped embodiment of the invention worksexactly as described in connection with the above-identifiedembodiments. The lower edges 54 and 56 of sides 51 and 53 engage arunning surface and prevent the ski from skidding sideways. Sides 51 and52 substantially encompass the wear bar 12 in saddle fashion. As withthe U-shaped anti-skid device, this embodiment is bolted to the wear bar12.

The above specific embodiments and examples are merely illustrative ofthe principles of the invention and are not to be construed as limitingthereof since many variations thereof may be made by those skilled inthe art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.For example, the sides of the U-shaped and rectangular-shaped anti-skiddevices 26 need not be exactly parallel. The sides can be something lessthan parallel as illustrated by the V-shaped device. Further, the webarrangement may be altered somewhat depending upon such facts as theshape of the ski bottom, the shape of the wear bar 12, and the like.

Now, therefore, I claim:

1. An anti-skid device for a snowmobile ski having wear bar with afastening bolt rigidly secured thereto which comprises first and secondsides, a first edge on each of said sides which are interconnected alongthe length of the sides, each of said sides having second edges on eachof said sides which are beveled at each end for engaging snow and ice,means for securing said device to said ski, said means including a boltopening located intermediate the ends of the sides and at theinterconnection of said sides to receive said fastening bolttherethrough said second edges of each of said sides being separatedfrom each other a predetermined distance to snugly enclose said wear barbetween said sides, said sides being of sufficient width to extend thesecond edges of said sides at least to the surface of said wear bar incontact with the snow surface.

2. An anti-skid device in accordance with claim 1 in which said sidesare interconnected along said first edges by a web having an arcuatecross section to form an anti-skid device having a U-shape cross sectionand in which said second edges of said first and second sides extendingbelow the surface of said wear bar which contacts the snow.

3. An anti-skid device in accordance with claim 1 in which said sidesare parallel with each other and are interconnected along said firstedges by a web which is perpendicular to the first and second sides toform an anti-skid device having a generally rectangular cross sectionand in which said second edges of said first and second sides extendingbelow the surface of said wear bar which contacts the snow.

4. An anti-skid device in accordance with claim 1 in which the firstedges of said first and second sides are directly connected to form ananti-skid device having a substantially V-shaped'cross section.

1. An anti-skid device for a snowmobile ski having a wear bar with afastening bolt rigidly secured thereto which comprises first and secondsides, a first edge on each of said sides which are interconnected alongthe length of the sides, each of said sides having second edges on eachof said sides which are beveled at each end for engaging snow and ice,means for securing said device to said ski, said means including a boltopening located intermediate the ends of the sides and at theinterconnection of said sides to receive said fastening bolttherethrough, said second edges of each of said sides being separatedfrom each other a predetermined distance to snugly enclose said wear barbetween said sides, said sides being of sufficient width to extend thesecond edges of said sides at least to the surface of said wear bar incontact with the snow surface.
 2. An anti-skid device in accordance withclaim 1 in which said sides are interconnected along said first edges bya web having an arcuate cross section to form an anti-skid device havinga U-shape cross section and in which said second edges of said first andsecond sides extending below the surface of said wear bar which contactsthe snow.
 3. An anti-skid device in accordance with claim 1 in whichsaid sides are parallel with each other and are interconnected alongsaid first edges by a web which is perpendicular to the first and secondsides to form an anti-skid device having a generally rectangular crosssection and in which said second edges of said first and second sidesextending below the surface of said wear bar which contacts the snow. 4.An anti-skid device in accordance with claim 1 in which the first edgesof said first and second sides are directly connected to form ananti-skid device having a substantially V-shaped cross section.